does anyone know something about case when multinational food corporation has caused famine?

Question

i am doing course work and i am kind of desperate. so if u know any website or any case of multinationals causing famine,please help me.lots of thaks

Answer 1

As the other two poster mentioned - NESTLE, for the baby formula fiascos of the 70s-80s.. I think they cleared that up since, though..

Check out Monsanto - they are a humungeous multinational agri-business and hold all sorts of patents on genetically modified seeds: stuff that is resistant to pesticides and/or is sterile - so you need to continue to buy their product each season.

specific cases:

In Canada, canola farmer Percy Schmeiser was ordered to destroy his crops because they had been contaminated by Moonsanto's genetic strain (via wind blown pollen, etc).

Use of "terminator seeds" in India led to famine. They require more water and have a lower yeild and have to be repurchased each season. Lower yueilds and drought led to widespread suffering. Also, bankrupted farmers - over 25,000 have committed suicide.

US Government contracted pesticide spraying in Colombia (to defoiliate coca crops) resulting in widespread health issues

Answer 2

I remember something about the NESTLE (chocolate drink) corporation promoting formula to women in a third world, which allowed for the mom's milk to dry up . . . then there was no clean water to make formula from. That's pretty irresponsible.

Answer 3

I heard of a case where Nestlé, in order to secure massive tax cuts across the EMEA region, delivered thousands of tons of old powdered baby milk that had passed its sell-by date to East Africa. Subsequently, these people received powder but had no clean water to add to it - rendering it useless.

This article explains the whole scandal surrounding Nestlé's disasterous strategy in Ethiopia.
http://www.gvnews.net/html/DailyNews/alert3195.html